


Scalemates

by OutrageousIngeniousBrilliance (sublimeWaves)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Feelings, Feelings Jams, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Gen, Meteor, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-07
Updated: 2014-06-07
Packaged: 2018-02-03 19:31:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1755263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sublimeWaves/pseuds/OutrageousIngeniousBrilliance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat finds his room stocked full of every single one of Terezi's scalemates, which prompts the question: 'Why are there Scalemates in Karkat's room and where is said owner of the previously mentioned Scalemates?'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scalemates

Karkat tried.  Oh, Karkat has _tried_.  No matter what he has done, his ancestor won’t stop _talking_.  Even worse was that right now, the red sweater clad abomination was following Karkat back towards his room the meteor. 

Karkat was getting real tired of this dream bubble/dancestor shit.  Just to make his life more of a hellhole than it already is, was that the loudmouth also brought the street walkin’ jade blood (Who for the record, Karkat actually enjoys Porrim’s company and respects her after she had saved the poor troll from Kankri that one time.) and the radical teal-blood (Whose screech-tastic voice makes you claw your ears off.). 

Porrim is here to keep Kankri in line, at least that is what Karkat guesses as she hangs closely to the walking disaster.  The younger red blood is  not sure what Kankri is trying to accomplish by vomiting useless shit around himself if.  Latula sought Karkat out to try and find Terzi, aka not leave him alone until she runs into her. 

Determined as hell to run off and hide, the Cancer goes to his respiteblock and enters the password and the doors swish open.   The whole grey as bland as fuck respiteblock is filled with what Karkat is sure is every single fucking one of Terezi’s scalemates.  There are literally piles of them all over his room and the Cancer takes a quick look for red glasses and curses when he finds none. 

His face reddens in anger and his fists clench as the three dead trolls stand in the doorway in awe.  Karkat breathes deep calming breathes to prevent himself from flipping shit and too also to bring his cheeks to a skin grey, old habits dying hard.  He’s been showing his blood too liberally lately. 

“1 n3v3r p3gg3d you 4s 4 p4nsy!”  The teal blood laughs this high pitched shrieky laugh and the Cancer is out of his room, ‘accidently’ hitting Latula on the way out.  The dancestors are hot on his heels as he passes Dave on the way to the common room. 

“have you seen terezi?” 

“NO I HAVEN’T SHE ISNT GRACING HERSELF WITH YOUR PRESENCE?”  Karkat answers sarcastically.  He notices Dave is holding a scalemate, an olive one with beady yellow eyes (Ambassador Olive Branch, he recognizes) and there is slight discoloring in its patches. 

“my ingenious mind has made her run away in ecstasy.  what the hell are they doing here?”  Dave points to the three dancestors.  Kankri, taking great offense to everything under the damn sun (and Karkat had accused _Sollux_ of being sensitive), takes it upon himself to start talking. 

“Y9u’re p9inting is m9re than likely triggering, 9r might I say a6s9lutely, if y9u d9n‘t take 9ffense, triggering t9 quite a num6er 9f pe9ple…“  Kankri’s spiel takes Dave’s attention off of Karkat as Karkat, Latula, and Porrim (Who has probably heard enough of your ass of an dancestor) take to your respiteblock.

 “We were just in this ro+o+m I believe.” 

“YEAH, BUT HER DUMBASS MATESPRIT CAN’T FIND HER. WHY WOULD I BE ABLE TO THEN?”

  _You’ve known her longer, know her better_.

 “l1ttl3 m3 got 4 m4t3spr1t?  4w sh1t!  r34lly got to t4lk to h3r now.”  Latula pulls a bright big smile.  Karkat frown deeps as his door opens. 

“G3T 1NS1D3!”  A voice, not a high pitched nails on a chalkboard screech, comes from the hallway and the group of three are shoved carelessly into the room.  Before Karkat can do anything, the first thing probably being yelling, there is a hand that is quickly placed over his mouth. 

“SHUT UP YOUR B31NG LOUD L1K3 4LW4YS!  The boy wiggles out of Terezi’s grasp. 

“LOOK WHO’S TALKING.”  He accuses.  She hits him with her cane in the chest, shutting him up and bringing the air out of his chest so he can’t think properly. 

“m1n1-m3! wh4t up! b33n look1ng 4ll ov33r for y4!”  Latula exclaims, loudly.  Terezi glares at her behind her glasses or, at least, what red, void holes for eyes can be deemed as glaring. 

“WH4T 4R3 TH3Y DO1ING H3R3?”  The Libra asks Karkat, pointing her cane towards the elder Libra and Virgo, a hint of annoyance overflowing from her calming sentence.  Karkat heard the high pitchyness of her voice and deemed something wrong with her other than her usually wacky, deranged self. 

“I DON’T KNOW!  THEY’VE BEEN FOLLOWING ME FOR FUCKING HOURS EVER SINCE I WOKE UP.  ONE OF THEM IS OBVISOULY YOURS SO *YOU* DEAL WITH THEM BEING HERE.”  The teal blood frowns and shoves the Cancer in a deep pile of scalemates.  It buries him as he flails and tries (read: fails) to try and get out of the death trap which is currently blocking his access to air.  The three other trolls promptly ignore him. 

“I was keeping Kankri co+mpany.”  Terezi had heard the rumors of the Cancer dancestor and cringed a bit at the remark.  She let Porrim off the hook and turned her attention to her own dancestor.

 “thought w3 should h4ng out or som3th1n’ s1nc3 1 h4v3nt r34lly s33n you 4nd 4ll 4nd 1t should b3 pr3tty r4d 4nd 4ll but th3n you d1ss4p34r3d 4ll unr4d1c4l 4nd 4ll 4nd w3 r4n 1nto th1s pr3tty r4d hum4n 4nd d4mn g1rl youv3 don3 good h3 is f1ne look1n~” 

“W41T WH3N D1D YOU SEE D4V3?”  Terezi, staying silent through her danestor’s enthusiastic speech, went a little wide eyed and frantic at the mention of her matesprit. 

“4 coupl3 m1nut3s 4go 1 b3l13v3.”  The teal blood went to the door and made sure it was locked.  As she moved her dancestor’s image faded a little.  Yes!  The meteor was finally leaving the dream bubble!

 “THANK GOD!”  Karkat says, finally regaining composure after his against the dragons probably scarred him for life. 

“wh4t? th4t 1s so -.”  The two trolls fizzled out leaving nothing to remind the living they were even there.  The two trolls left behind spent no time even acknowledging that their peers (more like strangers or enemies) left them.

 “WHY ARE YOU HERE?  MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY ARE ALL THESE SHITTY SALAMER THINGS HERE TO CHOCKE ME UNTIL I AM BLUE IN THE FACE AND EXPLODE MY LUNGS FROM LACK OF OXYGEN!” 

“DR4GONS!” 

“YOU SEE THAT VOID OF SPACE?  THAT IS THE AMOUNTS OF FUCKS THAT I GIVE!  ANSWER MY QUESTION!”    The teal blood’s lips turn downward as she crossed her arms and sighed. 

“1M H1D1NG TH3M.” 

“FROM WHAT?  IMAGINARY PLUSHEATERS?” 

“NO.” 

“THEN WHAT?” 

“D4V3.”  Karkat’s eyes narrowed. 

“IS THIS ABOUT THE SALAMANDER-“ 

“DR4GON!” 

“WHATEVER THING THAT DAVE IS CARRYING.”

 “D4V3 H4S 1NTRODUC3D 4MB4SS4DOR OL1V3 BR4NCH TO 4 SOPOR R3S1ST4NT SPR4Y WH1CH H4S L34D TO 4 D1SCOLOR1NG OF H1S SC4L3S… WHO W1LL 1NVOK3 D1MPLOM4T1C 1NT3RROG4T1ONS NOW?!” 

“DON’T YOU HAE LIKE TEN AMBASSADORS?”  Terezi puts up a hand, in a clichéd act of depression, to her face and flops down on the left side of Karkat’s couch, the only thing other than the TV not covered in scalemates. 

“4MB4SS4DOR OL1V3 BR4NCH W4S BY F4R TH3 B3ST!  TH1S 1S SUCH 4 D3PR3SS1NG S1TU4T1ON!”  Karkat just stares at the girl who is acting like a dame who just came into a detective’s office talking about how her husband was murdered.  He decided that he didn’t have time for this. 

“WHY HERE?”

 “D4VE WOULD NOT LOOK H3R3 4ND 1F H3 DO3S 1F YOU 4NSW3R TH3 DOOR TH3N H3 WON’T TH1NK 1M H3R3.”

 “WHY ARE YOU ASSUMING I’M GOING TO LIE FOR YOUU UNGRATEFUL ASS?”

 “PL34S3 K4RK4T.”  She sits up, lifts her glasses, and bashes her eyelashes together dramatically.  There is a knock at the door.  Terezi ‘s eyes widen a bit as her glasses fall down her face back onto her nose with a small ‘plop’.  Her voice loses the playfulness. 

“PL34S3 K4RK4T 1 DON’T W4NT H1M RU1N1NG TH3M 4LL.”  As much as this is bothering him, the mutant blood does know how much the stupid scalemates mean to her. 

“FINE. YOU OWE ME THOUGH ESPECIALLY IF HE RIPS MY THROAT OUT. DAMN HUMAN.”    Karkat begrudgingly opens the door part way.  There stands one human clad in red pajamas, just what no one ordered.

 “WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

 “yo that ancestor of yours, not that I expected your ancestor to be anything other than an uncool fuck-up, said Rezi was here.”  Dave still holds Ambassador Olive Branch as he talks in either an exasperated or bored voice, Karkat can’t really tell.  Truthfully, it’s probably the second one. 

A good look at the Dragon plush reveals bigger patches of tan defiling the olive cloth.  One of the yellow beaded eyes wasn’t glossy but rough and oh, how did Karkat not notice _that_?  A repugnant odor of stale spoor slime reeks from the plush forcing Karkat to breathe through his mouth and avoid using his nose. 

“DO I LOOK LIKE HER BABYSITTER?”  Dave snickers as he rolls his eyes behind his shades.

 “you babysit all of us.”  The Cancer remains expressionless, unamused. “it’s like your call to service or something.”

 “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHERE ANY OF YOU ARE. I’M NOT  LITTLY BOW PEEP CHASING HER DAMN UNGRACEFUL SHEEP SO MOVE YOUR ASS AT LEAST AN OCEAN’S LENGTH AWAY FROM MY DOOR AND DROWN YOURSELF!”  Karkat slams the door for good measure in Dave’s face.  Footsteps fade from the hall as Dave leaves.  Terezi bounces up from her piles of dragons which she has been rolling around in. 

“OH K4RK4T YOU 4R3 F1N4LLY 4BL3 TO L13 4T L34ST 4 L1TTL3 CONV1NGLY NOW! 1M SO PROUD TH4T YOU H4V3 B33N PR4CT1C1NG  >: ].” 

“OH YEAH I WAS EVEN THINKING OF JOINING A THEATRE AND DRESSING UP IN FUCKING SHIT OUTFITS AND PROCLAIMING TO THE WORLD TROLL SHAKESPEARE IM SO GOOD AT LYING!  THE HELL! I’VE ALWAYS BEEN GOOD AT LYING!  ALSO PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU DIDN’T JUST USE AN EMOTICON WHILE ACTUALLY SPEAKING TO ME.”

“OF COURSE I DID!”  Terezi smiles as the Cancer just glares at her.

  “WHATEVER.”  Karkat goes to sit on his couch, dismissing the action entirely, as Terezi goes for the door.  “WOAH I DID NOT JUST MAKE CONTACT WITH THAT HUMAN SHIT JUST FOR YOU TO GET CAUGHT!” 

“D4V3 4LW4YS GO3S TO SL33P 4ROUND THIS TIM3 ROS3 M4K3S H1M.  SOM3TH1NG 4BOUT ‘ I cannot allow my brother to continue such distasteful habits y that he has picked up from his brother’.  NOT TH4T YOU WOULD GO3S ON W1TH 4NY OF US.”  Terezi leaves with a little ‘humff’.  Karkat really wouldn’t know.  Other than Gamzee, he doesn’t really actually spends even a sliver of time with anyone. 

“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THESE SHITS?”  Karkat calls, gesturing to the large stacks of dragons, as he picks up a book, narrowly dodging an evil plushie being thrown at him.  There is no response so after an exasperated sigh, Karkat returns to his book’s world of love, romance, revenge, ‘as you wish’s, and princesses.

\--------

It wasn’t too long until the bing of the password being punched in correctly on the door rang and the Libra returned, running and closing the door hastily as if it was burning.  She turned to Karkat and dove under a pile of scalemates.  After briefly wondering if she was going to run out of oxygen.  If she does she might finally believe the Cancer when he tells her that her dragons were the spawns of hell.  Karkat makes no move to move, still reading his book. 

“I KNOW LIVING OUT YOUR CHILDISH GAMES GIVES YOU SOME PERVERTED PLEASURE ROOTED IN NASTOLGIA BUT REALLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”   

There’s a muffled sound in response. 

“WHAT?”    A head pops out of the pile, red glasses absent. 

“D4V3 1SNT 4SL33P.” 

“SO YOU DECIDE TO OFF YOUSELF BY DROWNING IN GATORS-“

 “DR4GONS!” 

 “YOU GO DO THAT.”  She gets up and sits on the couch next to the Cancer after assessing the area and deeming it clear.  She pulls out her glasses and clutches big square patches of fabric from her sylladex. 

“WHO TOLD YOU COULD BE HERE?”

 “TH3 TON3 OF YOUR VO1C3.”

 “IS YOUR HEARING GOING AS WELL OR ARE YOU GOING CRAZY?”  Terezi takes out her sewing kit from her sylladex.  She turns to Karkat and smiles. 

“YOU H4V3 MY P4TT3RN.”

 “PATTERN FOR WHAT I DON’T JUST GO AROUND HORDING SHIT.”  Karkat says quite annoyed.  He jjusts want to read his book in _peace_.

 “TH3 P4TT3RN FOR N3W SC4L3M4T3S!” 

“YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE MORE OF THOSE DEMOIC THINGS?” 

“1 GOT M4T3R14L TO R3STUFF 4MB4SS4DOR OL1V3 BR4NCH 4ND K4N4Y4 G4V3 M3 M4T3RI4L 4S W3LL.”  “Karkat rolls his eyes and sighs.

 “DO YOU HAVE TO DO IT HERE?” 

“4S LONG 4S D4V3 1S C4RRYING TH4T PO1SSON, Y3S.”  Terezi says in all seriousness. 

“FINE.”  The mutant blood opens his book back up as Terezi clears her throat loudly for attention. 

“MY P4TT3RN.” 

“WHY WOULD I HORDE THAT TYPE OF SHIT.

“I G4V3 1T TO YOU WH3N W3 F1RST M3T. 1T SHOULD B3 1N YOUR CH4T LOGS SOM3WH3R3.”  His eyes just stare deadpanned at the unaffected blind girl. 

“YOU WANT ME TO FIND A CHAT WE HAD THREE FUCKING SWEEPS AGO ON MY COMPUTER.  AM I HEARING THIS RIGHT?”

 “DON’T B3 DR4M4T1C K4RKL3S.”

 “THAT DID NOT JUST COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!  I AM NOT GOING THROUGH THOUSANDS OF FUCKING CHATS JUST SO YOU CAN MAKE MORE- “

 “DR4GONS!” 

“WHATEVER!”  Terezi frowns as she gets up and thrusts the Cancer’s computer towards him. 

“Y3S YOU W1LL, PL34S3.”  After a second of hesitation, Karkat logs into his computer, mumbling nothing curses.  Something was wrong with Terezi.  She was saying please, being nice, avoiding her matesprit, and acting more closed up and introverted than ever.  The last thing Karkat wanted to do at the present moment was give another pep talk like when he found her in the woods in her dragon cape. 

The file was easy to find.  It was in the third chat they had, back when she didn’t use the numbers of the blind profits and she could actually see what she was typing.  It was before she FLARPED and Karkat was trying to talk her out of such a bloodthirsty sport, with some help from Nepeta.  Looking back, Karkat sometimes wished he had tried harder. 

As soon as he found the template the Libra was all up in his personal space. She grabbed the computer, sat it on the ground in front of her and adjusted the screen.  Karkat was pretty sure that in all the time he had seen Terezi, he had never seen her so meticulously enveloped in her own world of concentration.   More than just sowing, the girl was putting her heart into replicating Ambassador Olive Branch, just as much as a painter drawing his masterpiece.  Not that the Cancer was looking, too engrossed in his novel to think about that or the fact Terezi was putting saliva all over his computer screen. 

After a while, when Terezi was done with the head, she started to look through the mutant blood’s massive collection of (corny)  movies  She  plopped one in and _The Laws of Attraction_ came onto the screen.  Karkat didn’t expect anything less. 

As she sat back down, Karkat turned to his movie player and sees drops of teal on the play button.  He turns to study the blood owner and tries to find her fingers.  There are small beads of teal rising from the curves of her fingers from the needle she was using.  With a sigh, the Cancer reaches over his couch, to his conveniently placed, but needed way too often, medical kit on his desk.  Scavenging though the bigger bandages he finds and flings a few of the smaller adhesive bandages at the girl. 

“YOURE BLEEDING.”  He offers as explanation before returning to his book and away from the surprised Libra.  It took a second for Terezi to notice how nice Karkat was being.  The grouchy crab had flung the bandages at her, but he had to keep up some type of tough image he pretended to have, one that seemed utterly ridiculous to her, but fooled others more often than her.   She allowed herself to raise the ends of her lips as she took care of wounds. 

She had finally restored Ambassador Olive Branch.  With a quick search though her syllabus, a small pile of scrap material appeared.  Solid, bold colors made up the largest percentage of the pile, the rest of the fabric was of a plentiful amount of a plaid pattern of dark grays and silvers.  As the girl started on the bold fabrics and started to fashion little dragon renditions with pillow feathers and secretly some couch stuffing from Karkat’s couch, the movie ended.  As background noise, Terezi chose _Top Gun_ (Because e no one doesn’t like _Top Gun_ ) then came across a movie with a black case cover which read _‘Wild Orchid’_ and read:  ‘a lawyer fiind2 love’. 

“NO!”  Karkat warns.

 “WHY NOT 1T L1K3 TH3 ONLY TH1NG H3R3 W1TH L3G4L-.” 

“IT’S ONE OF SOLLUX’S RED SHIT.”  The Libra took the DVD and crushed it, a look  of disgust evident on her face.  Karkat, usually horrified at the breaking of any movie, didn’t flinch.  Sollux’s red porn was something he didn’t even want to be near.  They ended up watching _Ally McBeal_.  All the episodes,  all of them.  It was the fifth episode that brought Terezi to the last three patches of fabric, the plaid. 

“YOU’RE NOT MAKING MORE OF THE HELL BEASTS WITH THAT FABRIC ARE YOU?”    Karkat cautiously asked making Terezi smirk in a familiar way, at least familiar before the meteor to hell tour started.  

“Y34H 4ND TH3Y 4R3 GO1NG TO B3 C4LL3D PROFF3SSOR S1LV3R TONGU3, G3N3R4L GUNW1NGS, 4ND 4MB4SS4DOR POWD3R P4WS.”  Some kind of alarm went off in Karkat internally.  For one, Terezi had obviously been influenced by _Top Gun_.  The other thing was that sooner or later, if he knew Terezi, which he did, she’ll reference these dragons and it will be the hail of fire that comes down on Karkat if he can’t actually remember their names and plaid material was going to make it hard to distinguish them..  Because no matter what the cancer said, he did know all of the scalemates’ names, all of them, much to his embarrassment.   

The teal blood knew this, which made it even better as she made him squirm with how much he denied it, despite her knowing the truth.  She continued on sowing, following the pattern as she had done a hundred times before.  She stole a quick sniff at the red blood and smiled to herself as Karkat was still pretending to read his book.  His eyes caught her distracted. 

“WHY ARE YOU HERE TEREZI?”  The girl’s finger bled from a prick as the question was asked.  She froze, Karkat handing her another adhesive bandage.  Something snapped in Terezi’s mind.

“M4YB3 1M BOR3D K4RK4T 3V3R TH1NK TH4T 1M BOR3D?  1TS NOT L1KE TH1S M3T3OR H4S M4NY TH1NGS TO DO.  ALL 1 H4V3 1S C4N TOWN 4ND DR4W1NG 4ND D4V3.”  Terezi takes a breath before having an urge to talk.  An urge that makes Karkat smile victoriously at the first syllable uttered. 

“1M T1R3D OF _ONLY_ T4K1NG TO D4V3 4ND TH3 F3W T1M3S 1 4CTU4LLY S33 SOM3ON3 TH4T 1 W4NT TO T4LK TO 1N 4 DR34M BUBBL3.  1M TIR3D OF HOW ROS3 4ND K4N4Y4 _N3V3R_ TO S33M BOR3D OF 34CH OTH3R.”  The girl stabs the fabric with her needle and consequently through her pants into her leg.  “HOW 1 N3V3R S33 _YOU_ 4ND WH3N 1 DO 1TS W1TH MY FUCK1NG D4NC3STOR!  SH3 DO3SN’T G3T 1T TH4T 1 H4T3 H3R JUST L1K3 HOW D4V3 DO3SN’T S33M TO UND3RST4ND TH4T TH3R3 1S MOR3 TO M3 TH4N DO1NG 4RT 4ND GOOF1NG OFF!   4ND 3V3RY T1ME 1 GO 1NTO 4 DR34M 1 S33 MY STUP1D D4NC3STOR 4ND SH3 T4LKS 4ND T4LKS 4BOUT H3R SH1T QU4DR4NTS 4ND 4LL 1 W4NT TO DO 1S L34V3 TH4T SUP1D BUBBL3 AND M4YB3 JUST _M4YB3_ 1’LL B3 4BL3 TO F1ND 4ND _FUCK1NG 4POLOG1Z3 TO –_ “ 

_Vriska_. 

Terezi stops abruptly, her knuckles white around the needle she has accidently pushed into her leg and uses her other hand to quickly stop the small droplets of water that threaten the edges of her eyes.  She leans her head back, her glasses falling off as she breathes after her rant.  Karkat’s lips twitched into a half-second smile. 

“YOU FEELING BETTER AFTER VOMITING YOUR SORROWS ALL OVER MY ROOM AND GETTING YOUR BLOOD ON MY COUCH WHICH I WILL NOW HAVE TO DIINFECT?”  Terezi nodded. 

“GOOD.”  Karkat knew, because _Karkat knows Terezi_. That all she needs sometimes is to talk.  Once she starts talking, it’s also hard for her to stop.  It’s a flaw of hers, a weakness that can easily be taken advantage of.  God knows Vriska did.  Discarding his book, Karkat leaves his comfortable spot on the couch and goes over to Terezi and quickly pulls the needle out of her leg without warning. 

“OW!”  The wound is soon dressed with a proper bandage.  They sit in silence for a few moments, and then Terezi stands up, a small smile on her face.  She packs up her supplies, fabric, and dragons in a one swoop.  She then heads to the door.

 “TH3Y S4Y YOU DON’T R34LLY H4V3 4 PROP3R F33L1NGS J4M UNL3SS YOU 4R3 1N 4 P1L3.”  Terezi says, opening the door, facing away from Karkat, an old ounce of confidence back in her voice. 

“WELL I GUESS YOUR SHITTY SCALEMATE PILES AROUND US WILL JUST HAVE TO COUNT.”  Terezi crackles as she steps out of the room.

 “TH4NKS K4RK4T.”

**Author's Note:**

> When did this go Pale? I was kind of aiming for Red, but then I don’t know what happened!
> 
>  
> 
> I believe that one cause of the reason that Terezi had her emotional breakdown, or whatever you want to call it, was because there was no one around that she could, or wanted, to talk to about her problems. She needs a moirail.


End file.
